Media Priming Research Articles

Increasing Cognitive Readiness Through Computer and Videogame–Based Training

In order to examine the cognitive readiness effects of training technologies, 123 participants watched emotional or tactical military training videos and then played a training videogame in a pre-post test between-subjects experiment. Emotional training video exposure reduced participants’ ability to suppress emotion and need to control one’s thoughts. After playing the videogame, participants exposed to the emotional video had higher metacognitive self-consciousness scores. Nationalism was negatively associated with emotion reappraisal for participants exposed to the emotional training video. However, patriotism was linked to higher emotion suppression scores. The results illustrate how media priming connects to short-term cognitive readiness outcomes and how trainee nationalism and patriotism modulate exposure effects.

The Influence of Asian American Spokesmodels in Technology-Related Advertising: An Experiment

The present study applies media priming and social identity theory to examine whether consumers transferred stereotypical model minority attributes (both positive and negative) to technology-related products and brands in advertisements featuring Asian American spokesmodels, compared to similar ads featuring Caucasians. Results (N = 263) of a 2 × 4 experiment revealed that consumers significantly primed products advertised using Asian American spokesmodels with model minority attributes; however, the products using Caucasian spokesmodels were rated significantly higher on brand attitude and purchase intention. In addition, parasocial identification mediated between model ethnicity and brand attitude, but not purchase intention.

Priming under Fire: Reverse Causality and the Classic Media Priming Hypothesis

This study reevaluates the classic “media priming” hypothesis, which argues that, when news coverage raises an issue’s salience, voters align their overall evaluation of the president with their assessment of him on that issue. Conventional studies typically show greater correspondence between issue approval and overall approval among individuals exposed to issue-related news. Although this is taken as evidence of media priming, this phenomenon is also consistent with another explanation. Precisely the opposite, the “projection” hypothesis argues that voters exposed to issue news align their approval of the president on that issue with their prior approval of his overall performance. Existing studies cannot rule out this alternative, so we conduct a survey experiment to evaluate the priming and projection hypotheses jointly. Despite recent evidence in support of projection, we show that the causal arrow runs from issue approval to overall approval (media priming), not the reverse (projection).

Dose-Dependent Media Priming Effects of Stereotypic Newspaper Articles on Implicit and Explicit Stereotypes

Current research draws a distinction between stereotype activation and application. Building on this differentiation, we present an implicit social cognition model of media priming: Implicit stereotypes (i.e., automatically activated stereotypes) are the outcome of associative processes, whereas explicit stereotypes (i.e., overtly expressed judgments) represent the outcome of propositional processes. We tested some of the model's basic predictions in an experiment. We found that a Gaussian distribution function explained the explicit media priming effect (i.e., decay in effect size at very high dose levels). However, a monotonic function explained the implicit media priming effect. This indicates that stereotypic content may impact implicit stereotypes even if the mass-mediated content is perceived as invalid. We discuss this finding regarding possible media-based reduction strategies.

News Stereotypes, Time, and Fading Priming Effects

Although there is evidence that the media priming effect fades with time, we lack empirical evidence from experimental designs. We investigated the media priming effect of reading crime tabloid articles that overrepresented foreigners as criminals on a subsequent real-world reality judgment (i.e., estimated frequency of criminal foreigners). We utilized a factorial experimental design ( N = 465) with the between-subjects factors treatment and temporal delay of the postmeasurement. We found that the media priming effect followed an exponential decay function and that vigilance (i.e., the tendency to intensify the intake and processing of threat-relevant information) moderated the decay.

Toward a Dose-Response Account of Media Priming

We present a dose-response (DR) account of media priming. DR concepts describe the relationship between a dose and the elicited response and, thus, allow us to study dose-dependent media priming effects. We report empirical evidence from an experiment ( N = 351) for the DR relationship between exposure to stereotypic newspaper content and readers’ stereotypic social reality estimates. We investigated the change in the media priming effect size by utilizing nine experimentally manipulated dose-conditions (i.e., frequency of the media prime). The empirical data appeared in the form of a Gaussian distribution function: We were able to document (1) a threshold dose, which generally allows us to specify the acceptable daily intake of potentially harmful media content. Furthermore, (2) we found a decline in the effect size at very high dose levels. We argue that a DR account as a supplement to contemporary approaches can be beneficial for media priming research.

One voter and two choices: The impact of electoral context on the 2011 UK referendum

There is a debate in the literature on referendum voting as to whether these occasions are opportunities for voters to express issue preferences in the absence of partisan politics or whether they simply serve as referendums on the current government. In part, this latter, second order account is assumed to be driven by the amount and content of media coverage, and hence information about the referendum, that is available to voters. In this paper, we address the second order question and demonstrate that holding elections concurrently both reduces the amount of media attention to the second order contest—the AV referendum in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland where national elections were held—and moderates media priming, thereby affecting the salient cues in the decision making of voters in those contexts.

Immigration Opposition Among U.S. Whites: General Ethnocentrism or Media Priming of Attitudes About Latinos?

General ethnocentrism seems to be a powerful antecedent of immigration opinion, typically displaying larger effects than economic concerns. News about immigration, however, may focus attention on a particular group in a given historical moment. We predict group‐specific affect, not general ethnocentrism, should most powerfully shape immigration policy opinion in the contemporary United States. We test this expectation with content analyses of news coverage, survey data from 1992 to 2008, a survey experiment, and official statistics. First, we find that mentions of Latinos in news coverage of immigration outpace mentions of other groups beginning in 1994, the year when Proposition 187, a proposal in California to end most social welfare and educational assistance to illegal immigrants, garnered significant national attention. Second, while ethnocentrism dominates economic concerns in explanations of Whites' immigration policy opinions, attitudes toward Latinos in particular account for nearly all of the impact of ethnocentrism since 1994. Finally, journalistic attention to Latino immigration roughly parallels actual rates of immigration from Latin America, suggesting the media shaping of policy opinion around this group may be driven by real‐world demographic patterns.

On-screen Muslims: Media priming and consequences for public policy

Given consistent findings concerning the media’s effect on shaping attitudes related to minority groups, it is important to understand the impact of the common anti Muslim portrayals currently appearing in many facets of US media. The current study implements an experimental design with five conditions (negative hard news, positive hard news, negative entertainment, negative comedy news and the control) and two dependent variables (support for identity-based policy issues and approval of civil liberty restrictions), and 175 student participants. We investigate the varying impact these different media formats and frames have on attitudes towards Muslims, attitudes related to identity-based policies and on civil liberties protection. The findings indicate that both positive and negative news and comedy news presentations have greater impact than the pure entertainment and control group conditions, and that subjects viewing negative news presentations are much more likely to approve restriction on civil liberties than in the other conditions.

Priming religion: The effects of religious issues in the news coverage on public attitudes towards European integration

Abstract Religion can affect public support for the European Union (EU). However, specifying the circumstances under which religion may become a stronger predictor of EU-support has so far been neglected. This article shows that the media play a role in this process and it is investigated to what extent the presence or absence of references to religious issues in EU news coverage primes people's religious attitudes to contribute to their evaluation of the EU. For this purpose, a content analysis of the amount of religious news items in EU coverage in German and Dutch newspapers between 1997 and 2007 was conducted. Two points in time were chosen — 1998, when only a small amount of religious news items appeared in EU coverage, and 2005, when religious items reached a peak. Eurobarometer data were used to test the media priming proposition. The findings show that an increasing religious dimension in media coverage about the EU primes a linkage between religious and political considerations and thus influences the strength of the impact of religion on attitudes towards the EU.

Priming and the Obama Effect on Public Evaluations of the United States

This article investigates the psychological basis for the dramatic improvement in the Canadian public's evaluations of the United States following President Obama's inauguration. It attributes this change to a media priming effect triggered by Obama's increased visibility in Canadian news coverage of the United States in 2008 and 2009. A survey experiment conducted on a sample of undergraduate students at a Canadian university is used to illustrate this priming effect. Mentioning President Obama in an unrelated question leads participants to evaluate the United States more positively than in a control group. This assimilation effect is particularly strong when compared to a condition in which former President Bush is mentioned instead of President Obama. The results also show that the Obama priming effect is moderated by political awareness such that individuals with intermediate levels of awareness are most sensitive to the Obama prime.

"Spin Zones" in American Presidential Elections

"Spin Zones" in American Presidential Elections

A Story About a Stupid Person Can Make You Act Stupid (or Smart): Behavioral Assimilation (and Contrast) as Narrative Impact

Media priming refers to the residual, often unintended consequences of media use on subsequent perceptions, judgments, and behavior. Previous research showed that the media can prime behavior that is in line with the primed traits or concepts (assimilation). However, assimilation is expected to be less likely and priming may even yield reverse effects (contrast) when recipients have a dissimilarity testing mindset. Based on previous research on narrative comprehension and experience as well as research on media priming, a short-term influence of stories on cognitive performance is predicted. In an experimental study, participants (N = 81) read a story about a stupid soccer hooligan. As expected, participants who read the story without a special processing instruction performed worse in a knowledge test than a control group who read an unrelated text. Participants with a reading goal instruction to find dissimilarities between the self and the main protagonist performed better than participants who read the story without this instruction. The effects of reported self-activation and story length were further considered. Future inquiries with narratives as primes and contrast effects in media effects research are discussed.

Saving Lives Branch by Branch: The Effectiveness of Driver Licensing Bureau Campaigns to Promote Organ Donor Registry Sign-Ups to African Americans in Michigan

African Americans are disproportionately represented on the national waiting list for organ transplantation. Promoting organ donor registries is one way to improve the possibility that those on the waiting list can receive a life saving transplant. Driver licensing bureaus have been suggested as an efficient site for campaigns aimed at increasing state-based registry sign-ups. Previous research has suggested these campaigns work well for Caucasian populations, but there is less evidence supporting this approach in more diverse populations. To determine whether more diverse populations demonstrate similar sign-up rates when receiving a driver licensing bureau campaign, the present study used a previously successful strategy as the basis for designing and disseminating materials that would appeal to African Americans and Caucasians in two diverse counties in the state of Michigan (Wayne and Oakland Counties). Communication design and media priming served as the theoretical foundations of a three-prong campaign that used mass media, point-of-decision, and interpersonal components. Results from countywide and zip code data indicate that the campaign greatly increased sign-ups among African American residents (700% increase above baseline). Although more Caucasians still signed up than did African Americans, the inclusion of an interpersonal component resulted in similar numbers of registry sign-ups during 2 intervention months. The study provides evidence supporting the use of driver licensing bureau campaigns to promote organ donation registries to diverse audiences.

Priming time for Blair? Media priming, Iraq, and leadership evaluations in Britain

Priming is often mentioned in studies of media effects in Britain, yet empirical tests of its extent and nature are lacking; most evidence of priming effects is from the United States. Moreover, research on British elections concludes that the media have little impact on the public’s perceptions of issues, including in the 2005 election. In this paper we argue that priming by the British media has been misconceived and thus not studied adequately. We demonstrate that the issue of the war in Iraq was primed by media coverage in 2005, both as a consequence of the volume of coverage of the issue and its tone. The influence of Iraq was not just long-term, via its impact on confidence in the Labour government or Tony Blair’s reputation, but was also affected by media coverage during the campaign. We also demonstrate that the media’s coverage of Iraq in 2005 influenced voters’ evaluations of Blair by polarizing consumers of the same news. Finally, we find slightly more of an impact of the tone of coverage of Iraq in 2005 but it is moderated by the editorial stance of the newspaper—the editorial stance of British newspapers still seems to matter, suggesting that the dealignment of the British press has not eliminated the influence of reading a newspaper that endorses a party, no matter how qualified that endorsement may be.

Promoting the Michigan Organ Donor Registry: Evaluating the Impact of a Multifaceted Intervention Utilizing Media Priming and Communication Design

There are currently more than 100,000 individuals waiting for an organ transplant. Organ donor registries represent the easiest and most concrete way for people to declare their intent to donate, but organ donor registries are vastly underutilized. This study reports a campaign intervention designed to increase the rate of joining the Michigan Organ Donor Registry. Grounding intervention development in the theoretical principles of media priming and communication design, the intervention took place in two waves in three counties in Michigan. Each intervention consisted of a media component, point-of-decision materials, and an interpersonal component. Increases in registration rates of 200 to 300% in each intervention county, compared to stable statewide trends in registry rates, provide evidence of highly successful intervention efforts. The rate of registry increase in intervention counties was approximately 1,900% higher than statewide on a per capita basis.

Short-Term Communication Effects or Longstanding Dispositions? The Public’s Response to the Financial Crisis of 2008

Economic interests and party identification are two key, long-standing factors that shape people’s attitudes on government policy. Recent research has increasingly focused on how short-term communication effects (e.g., issue framing, media priming) also influence public opinion. Rather than posit that political attitudes reflect one source of considerations more than another, we argue that the two interact in a significant and theoretically predictable manner. To explore this claim, we examine the American public’s attitudes towards the government’s response to the financial crisis of 2008. We designed three survey experiments conducted on a large national sample, in which we examine the influence of (1) group-serving biases, (2) goal framing, and (3) threshold sensitivity. We find that economic standing and partisanship moderate the impact of communication effects as a function of their content. Our results demonstrate how people’s sensitivity to peripheral presentational features interacts with more fundamental dispositions in shaping attitudes on complex policy issues.

Variations in Media Priming: The Moderating Role of Knowledge, Interest, News Attention, and Discussion

Existing research on which citizens are most and least likely to exhibit media priming effects is inconclusive. Using data from the 2006 Canadian election, this study examined the moderating role of voters' political knowledge, interest in politics, news attention, and discussion frequency. Results show priming was not constant across political involvement variables. It was strongest for citizens with moderate levels of knowledge and discussion, but was negatively related to interest. Compared to pessimistic and optimistic accounts of voters' ability to resist media influence, the findings suggest a more nuanced perspective on citizen “competence.”

A Test of Competing Cognitive Explanations for the Boomerang Effect in Response to the Deliberate Disruption of Media-Induced Aggression

This study advances research on the boomerang effect in response to anti-aggression media literacy interventions. Previous findings indicate that elementary school children can become more aggressive after exposure to such interventions. We test two competing explanations for the boomerang effect, media priming and psychological reactance, in a 2 × 2 factorial experiment with elementary school children (N = 128). Findings indicate that children may cognitively process antisocial elements of an intervention program in a manner that runs counter to the intended effect of prosocial messages. Specifically, children who were exposed to a media literacy intervention with violent media clips as examples reported an increase in willingness to use aggression, whereas children who were exposed to the same lesson without the clips did not. Therefore, the boomerang effect is best explained by the processing of violent clips (media priming) and is not likely due to resistance to the instructional elements of the lesson (psychological reactance). Implications for researchers and practitioners are discussed.

Reframing Campaigning: Communications, the Media and Elections in Canada

This article is a critical assessment of Canadian perspectives on the role of the media in electoral behaviour, notably on the roles media play in setting or responding to the agenda in the heat of election campaigns. Research into the role of the media in election campaigns has been conducted within the broadly behaviouralist tradition of political scientific research. The article begins with a brief contextualization of the behaviouralist research tradition in Canada. Within the specific context of Canadian history and its social structure, the introduction explains how the very questions that Canadians have posed regarding media/campaign interactions have been undertaken in a range of research traditions that problematize fields of causality with greater complexity than is possible in the largely positivist behaviouralist paradigm. Three such research traditions are those of “Culture, Ideology, and Discourse,” “Political Economy/Technology,” and “Legal-Institutional Analyses.” The second section of the article highlights important Canadian methodological and empirical contributions to behaviouralism. The general importance of campaign effects, the impact of leader-centred media priming, the methodological innovation of the rolling cross-section sample design, and advances in agenda setting research are identified in this section. The third section of the article, on Culture, Ideology, and Discourse, illustrates general patterns of contrast between the Canadian and American political cultures through an exploration of the comparative role of negative and attack advertisements in election campaigns. This section illustrates instances of how the limits established in the Canadian political culture influence media decisions and how the discourses of media coverage reflect cultural realities. The fourth section of the article illustrates how facets of the Political Economy of Canada exert an impact on media/ campaign interactions. This section explores the media/campaign interaction from both sides. First, the changing impact of campaign financing/campaign spending on media reportage is assessed, and then the implications of shifting patterns of media ownership on campaign coverage is considered. Do either set of changing relations affect the shaping of the media agenda? Finally, the political economy of the new Information and Communications Technologies is investigated in the context of the Toronto School of Communication. The fifth and final section of the article undertakes the task of situating media/campaign interactions within the Legal-Institutional regulatory context of the Canadian state. The impact of the Canada Elections Act and other legislation is undertaken around matters such as freedom of expression, access to information, advertising, spending, and public support for political parties and candidates.